TROUBLES IN OBTAINING A NEW CHARTER.--PROVISIONS OF THE
CHARTER.--DIFFICULTIES CONCERNING THE NARRAGANSETT
PURCHASE.--CURRENCY.--SCHOOLS.
The charter of Charles II. was a practical recognition of the right
of self-government. The government which it established, like that
instituted by the colonists in their first organization, was a pure
democracy, emanating from the people and framed for their good. In
form it consisted of a Governor, a Deputy-Governor, ten assistants,
and a House of Deputies, six of whom represented Newport, four
Providence, four Portsmouth, four Warwick, and two each other towns.
The first appointments of Governor, Deputy-Governor, and assistants,
as preparatory to a permanent organization, were made by the King. The
organization once effected, they were chosen annually at Newport, on
the first Wednesday in May. The deputies were elected by the people
in their respective towns. Thus election day became the great civil
festival of the year, bringing the inhabitants of the towns together to
interchange thoughts and feelings, and make merry with their wives and
children in the chief town of the Colony.
Although the new charter was negotiated by John Clarke, it is
impossible not to recognize in it the spirit of Roger Williams.
The original right of the natives to the soil was acknowledged,
practically, in other colonies; but it was acknowledged as subordinate
to the right of the King. The royal grant preceded the actual purchase.
But in Rhode Island the royal grant followed the Indian title-deed, and
was never accepted as sufficient of itself to justify the occupation
of Indian territory. This doctrine, so widely at variance with the
received doctrine of the age, stood first in the list of heresies for
which Massachusetts had driven Roger Williams into exile.
No less prominent in the second charter was that great principle which
had formed the leading characteristic of the first. "Noe person," it
says, "within the sayd colonye, at any tyme hereafter, shall be any
wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any
difference of opinion in matters of religion which doe not actually
disturb the civill peace of our sayd colonye; but that all and everye
person may, from tyme to tyme and at all tymes hereafter, freelye and
fullye have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences, in
matters of religious concernments, through the tract of lande hereafter
mentioned, they behaving themselves peaceablie and quietlie, and not
using this libertye to licentiousness, and profaneness, nor to the
civill injurye or outward disturbance of others."
There was much work for the new Assembly to do, and it addressed
itself promptly to the task. The statute book contained laws which,
arising from circumstances no longer existing, were "inconsistent
with the present government." To weed these out and replace them by
others better suited to the new order of things, was an early object of
attention. Hitherto the assistants had not been vested with legislative
authority. They now held it by the charter, and henceforth acted in
conjunction with the deputies, a change which at a later day led to the
division into two houses. The increase of population brought with it an
increase of litigation. The original courts were not sufficient to meet
the demand for legal protection. They were reorganized.
There were two general courts of trials, composed of the Governor, with
or without the aid of the Deputy-Governor, and of a body of assistants
whose number was never less than six. Their place of meeting was
Newport, the seat of government and largest town, and their regular
sessions were held in May and October. Providence and Warwick had each
a court of trials--Providence in September and Warwick in March. But
in these, as if in indication of their subordinate authority, neither
the Governor nor the Deputy-Governor had a seat, and the number of
assistants absolutely required to give validity to its acts was reduced
from six to three. To complete their organization twelve jurors were
added, six from each town. Their decision, however, was not final,
and the cases which they had tried could be carried by appeal to the
General Court. To quicken the tardy steps of justice any litigant
who was willing to bear the expense, might, with the sanction of the
Governor or Deputy-Governor, have a special court convened for the
immediate decision of his cause.
The grand and petty jurors were chosen from the four towns, five of
each from Newport, three from Portsmouth, and two from Providence and
Warwick respectively. The same superiority was accorded to Newport in
the apportionment of state officers, five of whom were required to live
there. In this, however, Providence outranks Portsmouth, having three
allotted to her for her portion, while Portsmouth had but two. The
duties of coroner were performed by the assistant "nearest the place
occasion shall present."
Another grave question met them on the threshold of their work of
organization. The charter left a doubt concerning the manner of
choosing the state magistrates. Should they be elected by the freemen
in town meeting, or by the General Assembly? The democratic instinct
prevailed, and the choice was left to the freemen.
There was a still graver question to be decided, requiring firmness,
self-control and skilled diplomacy. Rhode Island had never been looked
upon by Massachusetts with friendly eyes. That a banished man should
have become the founder of a new colony close upon her borders was
irritating to her pride. That his success as a colonizer should have
cut her off from the beautiful Narragansett Bay was humiliating to her
ambition of territorial aggrandizement. That a freedom of conscience
subversive of her theological dogmas should have been the fundamental
principle of the new government was irritating to her bigotry. Thus,
although she did not hesitate to avail herself of the good offices
of Roger Williams to avert a dangerous war, she did not scruple to
forbid the sale to citizens of Rhode Island of the powder and arms
which they needed for their own protection, and exclude them from the
league which the other colonies of New England had formed for their
common defence. When, in 1642, four of the principal inhabitants of
Pawtuxet factiously put themselves under her protection, she greedily
seized the opportunity of securing for herself a foothold in the
coveted territory. It was not till 1658 that this dangerous dispute
was settled and the perpetual menace of mutilation removed from the
northern district of the Colony soon to reappear in the southern. Amid
the fresh recollections of this contest, the General Assembly passed a
law forbidding, under the penalty of confiscation, the introduction of
a foreign authority within the limits of the Colony. Both Massachusetts
and Connecticut laid claim to Narragansett, a valuable tract in the
southern part of the Colony and controlling the communication with the
bay of that name. The claim of Rhode Island was founded upon purchase,
and although her physical inferiority left her no hope of success
except through an appeal to the King, she was none the less vigilant
in defending her rights. The necessity of this watchfulness was soon
made manifest, for scarce a year had passed from the passage of the
prohibitory law, when, in direct violation of its provisions, a company
of aliens purchased Quidneset and Namcook, two large and valuable
tracts on Narragansett Bay. It was like throwing down the gauntlet to
the little Colony, for it was only by supporting the pretensions of
Massachusetts or Connecticut that the purchasers could hope to make
their title good. An artful attempt was made to obtain the sanction of
Roger Williams's name by offering him, under the title of interpreter,
a liberal grant of land. But the loyal old man refused to connect
himself in any way with the illegal act, and warned the company of the
dangerous ground whereon they were treading.
The warning was not heeded, and Humphrey Atherton, John Winthrop and
their associates, completing their bargain with the Indians, claimed
the tracts as theirs by lawful purchase. New complications followed.
The very next year the Commissioners of the United Colonies, following
up their aggressive policy towards the Narragansetts, imposed upon the
feeble remnant of the once powerful tribe a heavy fine for alleged
injuries to the Mohegans, and compelled them to mortgage their whole
territory for the payment of it. Atherton paid the fine, and held that
his claim was strengthened by this act of unjustifiable violence.
For a time hopes were entertained of inducing the company to accept
the jurisdiction of Rhode Island, but they were futile. The attempt of
either party to exercise legal authority in the disputed territory was
a signal for the active intervention of the other. It was soon evident
that the decision must be referred to England. Fortunately for Rhode
Island, John Clarke was still there.
Agents from Connecticut, also, were there petitioning for a new
charter, and their petition was enforced by the wise and virtuous John
Winthrop. Court favor came to his aid, and he used it judiciously. The
venerable Lord Say and Seal lent him the influence of his name, and the
skillful negotiator dexterously reviving the memory of the intercourse
between his father and Charles the First, succeeded in touching for
a moment the callous heart of Charles II. In the season of that
intercourse Charles had given Winthrop a curious and valuable ring,
and now when the son of the subject came before the son of the King
as a suppliant for a charter for his distant home, he bore that ring
in his hand as a record of kind feelings on one side and reverential
observance on the other. The plea was successful, and, on the 30th of
May, 1662, a charter was granted. In this charter the eastern boundary
of Connecticut was extended to Narragansett River, and Narragansett
River it was claimed was Narragansett Bay.
Great was the indignation of Rhode Island when the tidings of this
arbitrary mutilation of her territory reached her. It was like
introducing a foreign jurisdiction into the heart of the Colony, and
stripping it by a stroke of the pen of some of the chief advantages
which it had promised itself from its long and painful labor of
colonization. There was but one hope left, and that lay in the wisdom
and firmness of John Clarke. The trust was well placed. Not for a
moment did the brave man lose heart or suffer himself to grow weary
in his difficult task. Of the details of his negotiations no accurate
record has been preserved, but we know that, possessing no means of
corruption, even if his noble nature could have stooped to it, he
placed his confidence in the justice of his cause. In negotiating for a
charter he had presented two elaborate petitions to the King, giving a
rapid sketch of the origin and principles of the Colony, and asking for
"a more absolute, ample, and free charter of civill incorporation," as
for men who "had it much on their hearts (if they may be permitted) to
hold a lively experiment, that a flourishing free state may stand, yea,
and best be maintained, and that among English spirits, with a full
liberty in religious concernments."
The question of a charter was for the King to decide, and we have
already seen how he decided it. But the question of boundaries was
within the competence of the agents of the two colonies. After much
discussion it was decided to refer it to arbitration. Four arbitrators
were chosen, and on the 7th of April, 1663, they rendered their award
in four articles, by one of which the Pawcatuck River was made the
eastern boundary of Connecticut. The Atherton company was left free to
decide under which of the two jurisdictions it would live.
As long as Winthrop remained, although Clarke had much to apprehend
from his open opposition, he had nothing to fear from secret intrigues
or willful misinterpretation. But not all the advocates of the Atherton
purchase were like John Winthrop. False claims will always find base
agents, and no sooner was Winthrop gone than one of these willing
instruments of wrong pressed eagerly forward to his loathsome office.
His name was John Scott, and the record of his meanness has been
preserved in his own hand. "Mr. Winthrop," begins his confidential
correspondence with Captain Hutchinson, the corresponding agent of the
company, "was very averse to my prosecuting your affairs, he having had
much trouble with Mr. Clarke whiles he remained in England; but as soon
as I received intelligence of his departure from the Downes, I took
into the society a Potent Gentleman and prepared a Petition against
Clarke, &c., as enemyes to the peace and well being of his Majestye's
good subjects, and doubt not effecting the premises in convenient
tyme, and in order to accomplish y^r businesse, I have bought of Mr.
Edwards a parcel of curiosityes to y^e value of sixty pounds; to
gratifye persons that are powerfull, that there may be a Letter filled
with Awthorising Expressions to the Collonyes of the Massachusetts and
Connecticut, that the proprietors of the Narraganset countrye, shall
not only live peaceably, but have satisfaction for Injuryes already
received by some of the saide Proprietors and the power y^t shall be
soe invested (viz) the Massachusetts and Connecticut by virtue of the
saide letter will joyntlye and severallye, have full power to do us
justice to all intents, as to our Narraganset concernes."
For a moment it seemed as though this vile intrigue were about to
succeed. A letter from the King to the United Colonies was obtained,
recommending the interests of the Atherton company to their protection.
John Scott's "curiosityes" had done their work. The "Potent Gentleman"
had not failed him. The little Colony lay unarmed at the feet of its
powerful enemies. But the triumph was short. John Clarke was carefully
bringing his negotiations for a new charter to a close. Surrounded by
bitter and unscrupulous adversaries he still kept his own counsel,
kept the object of his mission constantly in view, and, after much
weary waiting and watching, came out triumphant. The charter of
Charles the Second, as I have already stated, which so long served the
Colony as a constitution and exercised such a controlling influence
upon her development, passed the seals on the 8th of July, 1663. By
this charter the western boundary line was fixed at Pawcatuck River,
"any Grant or Claim in a late Grant to the Governor and Company of
_Connecticut_ Colony in _America_ to the contrary thereof in any wise
notwithstanding." Thus the Pawcatuck River was henceforth to be held
as the same with the Narragansett River, and the question of western
boundary decided in accordance with the agreement, which, "after much
debate," Clarke and Winthrop had both signed in the names of their
respective colonies. It is evident that there was much ignorance, and
no very firm principle of action with regard to the colonies in the
cabinet of the second Charles.
While these events were passing an important change took place in
the commercial medium of the country. When the colonists first began
to trade with the natives, they found them already advanced in their
buyings and sellings from the primitive barter of product for product
to the use of a fixed medium of exchange. This medium, indeed, was of
a purely conventional character. There were neither mines of gold, nor
mines of silver, nor mines of copper to perform the office of money.
But the waters of their rivers and bays yielded an abundant supply
of shells, and these they wrought with much ingenuity into beads;
the periwinkle furnishing the material for the lower values, six of
its white shells being held at an English penny, while the dark eye
of the quahog or round clam, smoothed by grinding, and polished and
drilled, was rated at twice the value of the white shell. Both were
known as wampum or peage. As money belts of wampum were counted by the
fathom, three hundred and sixty of the white passing for five shillings
sterling, and a fathom of the black being worth twice as much as a
fathom of the white. Like the metallic medium of other countries they
served also for personal decoration, supplying the Indian belles and
beaux with their necklaces and bracelets, and princes with the most
valued ornaments of their regalia. When used for this purpose they
were wrought into girdles, or worn as a scarf about the shoulders,
great pains being taken and not a little skill displayed in arranging
the colors in various figures. The mints in which this primitive money
was coined were on the sea-shore, where shells were found in great
abundance, and so well was this simple article adapted to the wants and
the tastes of the aborigines that it passed current six hundred miles
from the coast, and was used by the colonists in all their bargains
with the natives. But shells like metals and paper are subject to the
same inexorable laws of trade. When beaver skins became plenty in the
colonial market and wampum was made in larger quantities, it fell from
ten shillings a fathom to five, and the Indian hunter thought it hard
that an equal number of furs should bring him but half as much wampum
as before. Like all money, also, wampum was liable to be counterfeited,
and even in that rude commerce there were men who preferred the
ill-gotten gain of the counterfeiter to the fruit of honest industry.
Fortunately for the native he was quick in detecting the fraud, and
never failed to exact full compensation. But wampum, like the race for
whom it was made, was unable to hold its ground against the advancing
civilization. We have seen it reduced to half its original value by
overissues and the increasing supply of furs in the colonial market.
Gradually it began to disappear. Rhode Island continued to use it long
after it had ceased to be current in colonies where the intercourse
with Europe was more direct. Massachusetts had begun to coin silver in
1652, but Rhode Island continued to accept wampum as a legal tender
for ten years longer, when it reached its lowest point, and, like
the Continental money of a century later, was abolished by statute.
Thenceforth all taxes and costs of court were exacted in "current pay"
in sterling that is, or in New England coin of thirty shillings New
England to twenty-two shillings sixpence sterling.
Nothing has been said thus far of the measures taken by the young
Colony for the establishment of schools. Newport, though only in the
second year of her settlement, took the lead in 1640, by "calling Mr.
Robert Lenthall to keep a school for the learning of youth, and for his
encouragement there was granted to him and his heirs one hundred acres
of land, and four more for a house lot." In the same meeting it was
voted: "That one hundred acres should be laid forth and appropriated
for a school, for the encouragement of the poorer sort, to train up
their youth in learning, and Mr. Robert Lenthall, while he continues
to keep school, is to have the benefit thereof." The wise example was
followed by Providence in 1663, and at May town meeting a hundred acres
of upland and six acres of meadow were reserved for the support of a
school.
But in nothing perhaps does the character of the Colony appear to more
advantage than in the law of oaths. "Forasmuch," reads the statute,
"as the consciences of sundry men, truly conscionable, may scruple the
giving or the taking of an oath, and it would be no wise suitable to
the nature and constitution of our place, who profess ourselves to be
men of different consciences, and not one willing to force another,
to debar such as cannot do so, either from bearing office among us,
or from giving in testimony in a case depending; be it enacted by
the authority of this present Assembly, that a solemn profession or
testimony in a court of record, or before a judge of record, shall be
accounted throughout the whole colony, of as full force as an oath." So
strong was the hold which the principle of soul liberty had taken of
the public mind.